Today for the first time this year we ended up in an amusement park. This was actually the first time for Anюta overall.

We bought 30 tickets, since they never expire and ended up using up about half of them.

Arosha definitely had a good time. On most rides Alёna had to ride with Anna, since Anna is still too short to go on most of them. Most of those things made Alёna very dizzy.

They didn’t let Anna go on the previous one even with an adult because she is still too short. So Alёna took her onto this one instead.

This one would always get me dizzy. I hated these when I was a kid.

I drove a go-cart with Arosha which turned out to be quite fun. And they actually let us ride around for a good amount of time too. These things handle really well. I never let the gas pedal go. Who needs brakes anyhow, right?

This one was the only one where Anюta wen’t without an adult. We weren’t sure if she would agree, but she did fine.

This one goes up and down. Several years ago Arosha went onto this one and didn’t expect what it would do. Bliss on his face quickly changed to mild terror when it started going up. This time around there was no surprise, so he liked it much more.

And when we told them it was time to go Arosha talked us into one last ride. As you can see he is fixing the plane here. Clearly it needed fixing.

And here lucky Alёna got to “enjoy” yet another dizzying ride. Overall not much fun for adults, but a blast for the little ones.

Leave a comment

Last Saturday we went to the Bronx Zoo. It was the third time for Danya and I, and the second time for Aroshka. We had such a great time!

The Zoo itself is very big and has a lot of animals. It’s on the expensive side compared to Staten Island or Brooklyn ones (cost us $15 for parking plus $30 for each adult), and it’s a pretty long drive for us (1+ hrs), but it was totally worth it.

We arrived there shortly after 12 p.m. and proceeded to watch giraffes, peafowl, hyenas, and some other animals. We then took a shuttle ride, which Aroshka absolutely loved, and went to see gorillas.

We did not take a stroller for Arosha — he actually did not use stroller a single time in the last few months, but took his beloved scooter instead. It was funny how many times people commented on how cool his method of transportation was.

There were a lot of people, including lots of children of all ages. Saturdays are probably busiest at places like this, so it is to be expected.

We then went to look at lions, okapis, bears. At this point everyone got pretty hungry, so we stopped for a short lunch break. Arosha and I got vanilla ice-cream, and Danya ate hot dog and some french fries. Aroshka also ate a banana and some carrots which I took with me.

We wanted to show Arosha elephants and rhinos, and the only way to do it was to take a Wild Asia monorail tour. The line was long, but we’ve decided to wait. Danya was standing in line at all times, and Aroshka and I were free to move around. Arosha managed to put one of his feet into deep water, so his shoe and sock were soaking wet. I took the dry sock from his other foot, but was not sure what else I can do to fix this. Danya suggested that we put a plastic bag on the sock, and then put a wet snicker on. This combination worked well, and Aroshka did not complain about this adjustment a single time.

So after about an hour wait, we finally boarded a train. The tour itself was not long — probably 15-20 minutes. We saw Pzhewalski’s horse (which Danya identified right away), a tiger, different kinds of deer, gaur (world’s largest wild cattle), red panda, Asian elephants and a rhino. It was a nice tour, and I am glad we took it. I don’t think that I ever saw a rhinoceros before.

By the end of the tour Arosha was pretty tired, so we decided to take a shuttle back to the parking lot. Unfortunately, there was also a line, so we figured that it’ll be quicker to get there on foot. It was a good decision, since we passed by a bug carousel, and it was a huge hit with Arosha.

Despite his exhaustion and a prospect of another wait line, he definitely wanted to take a ride. Luckily, the line was moving pretty quickly, so soon enough he mounted a big green-and-yellow caterpillar. You should have seen how excited he was when then carousel started moving! He really-really loved it! When it stopped, he did not want to leave, but the stuff member told us that if we wanted to take another ride, we’ll have to wait in line again. I guess, rules are rules, so we complied. Aroshka definitely wanted to do it again, so we waited.

After the second carousel ride, we resumed our course to the parking lot. We stopped by the lions again, and were rewarded by a magnificent roar.

We left the Zoo close to 5 p.m., and Arosha fell asleep in the car. We concluded our day by getting some take out Uzbek shish-kebab.